World leaders from the G20 rich and developing economies broke with tradition and adopted a declaration at the start of their summit in South Africa on Saturday, despite opposition from the US, which is boycotting the two-day talks in a diplomatic rift with the host country.
Vincent Magwenya, the spokesperson for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, said a leaders’ declaration was adopted unanimously by the other members at the start of the talks in Johannesburg. Declarations are usually adopted at the end of G20 summits.
The 122-point declaration urged more global action on issues that specifically affect poor countries, such as climate-related disasters and sovereign debt levels, and was promoted by the host country as a victory for the first G20 summit to be held in Africa.
Photo: Pool via REUTERS
The summit has been overshadowed by a boycott ordered by US President Donald Trump, and Washington had put pressure on South Africa not to adopt a leaders’ declaration in the absence of a US delegation, South African officials said.
South Africa’s summit had an ambitious agenda to make progress on solving some of the long-standing problems that have afflicted the developing world, and leaders and top government officials came together at an exhibition center near the township of Soweto, which was once home to former South African president Nelson Mandela.
Many of South Africa’s priorities, especially a focus on climate change and confronting global inequality, met resistance from the US. However, as he opened the summit, Ramaphosa said that “consensus has emerged.”
Then, in comments to leaders that were apparently mistakenly broadcast during what was meant to be the start of closed-door discussions, Ramaphosa could be heard saying leaders would move “to adopt our declaration now.”
South Africa’s foreign minister walked over and whispered in Ramaphosa’s ear, and the South African leader said: “OK. I’m told that the cameras are still on. They should be off.”
While Ramaphosa’s spokesperson said the declaration was unanimous, Argentina said it did not endorse it.
Argentine President Javier Milei also did not attend the summit in solidarity with ally Trump, and the country was represented by Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship Pablo Quirno.
South Africa set the agenda for the summit as the country holding the rotating G20 presidency, and wanted leaders to agree to more help for poor countries to recover from climate-fueled disasters, reduce their foreign debt burdens, transition to green energy sources and harness their own critical mineral wealth.
G20 declarations detail broad agreements reached by the members. South Africa said the US was exerting pressure to tone down the final document to a unilateral statement from the host country.
Ramaphosa responded this week by saying “we will not be bullied.”
The direction of the G20 bloc is likely to change sharply after the US takes over the rotating presidency at the end of the summit.
Indonesia and Malaysia have become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, after authorities said it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and nonconsensual images. The moves reflect growing global concern over generative AI tools that can produce realistic images, sound and text, while existing safeguards fail to prevent their abuse. The Grok chatbot, which is accessed through Musk’s social media platform X, has been criticized for generating manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, as well as images involving children. Regulators in the two Southeast Asian
COMMUNIST ALIGNMENT: To Lam wants to combine party chief and state presidency roles, with the decision resting on the election of 200 new party delegates next week Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam is seeking to combine his party role with the state presidency, officials said, in a move that would align Vietnam’s political structure more closely to China’s, where President Xi Jinping (習近平) heads the party and state. Next week about 1,600 delegates are to gather in Hanoi to commence a week-long communist party congress, held every five years to select new leaders and set policy goals for the single-party state. Lam, 68, bade for both top positions at a party meeting last month, seeking initial party approval ahead of the congress, three people briefed by
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
ICE DISPUTE: The Trump administration has sought to paint Good as a ‘domestic terrorist,’ insisting that the agent who fatally shot her was acting in self-defense Thousands of demonstrators chanting the name of the woman killed by a US federal agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota, took to the city’s streets on Saturday, amid widespread anger at use of force in the immigration crackdown of US President Donald Trump. Organizers said more than 1,000 events were planned across the US under the slogan “ICE, Out for Good” — referring to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is drawing growing opposition over its execution of Trump’s effort at mass deportations. The slogan is also a reference to Renee Good, the 37-year-old mother shot dead on Wednesday in her
RSS